Life After Death
by MadeOfWin35
Summary: The dead are starting to rise in Cardiff, returning to their loved ones and their old lives, among them a certain Welshman...Zombie Apacalypse, anyone?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood. This is merely a depressed fangirl's attempt to find some joy in the Torchwood fandom after so much death. **

**Summary: The dead are starting to rise in Cardiff, returning to their loved ones and their old lives. Among them a certain Welshman… Zombie Apocalypse, anyone?**

**[A/N: I really wanted to write something longer than a one-shot (like **_**The Haunting of Jack Harkness**_**) and this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fanfiction story. I had been trying to come up with a good plot to resurrect Ianto and since my friends and I recently started discussing the Zombie Apocalypse I decided to combine the two and hope it didn't turn into crack. Comments are always appreciated and while I have the basic format of the story already typed, reviews will definitely influence the story. So lemme know whether or not I'm crazy or if this story actually works. Also note I've never watched COE so I'm not sure exactly what killed him, other than RTD's stupidity.]**

**Chapter 1. Awake**

When Jack Harkness wakes up in the morning there is a small space of time that is pure bliss. In those few precious seconds he expects to turn over and find a beautiful Welshman stretched out beside him. He can even smell Ianto's wonderful coffee, wafting in from the kitchen. This bliss lasts for only a few seconds before reality hits him.

Ianto Jones is dead.

That is the second thought to cross Jack's mind. With is comes the unstoppable ache in his chest and the grief that weighs down his shoulders. The memory of holding Ianto in his arms comes back vividly into his mind and it takes all his willpower not to cry out his eyes.

The Welshman isn't beside him, instead it's a man named Alonso Frame. A man Jack barely knows. No smell of coffee wafts through the air, instead it is the scent of Alonso's tea. A watered down liquid that hardly stands up to the legacy of Ianto Jones' coffee.

They found it on a Thursday, sitting atop a pile of rotting garbage in the Cardiff dump. The Rift monitors had, of course, altered them to its presence. As off the scale as the monitors had been Jack and Alonso had expected to find something alarming, giant alien leeches ready to invade earth or a blowfish driving a sports car, _not _a flower.

"We're down here for a flower," Alonso said incredulously.

"Hey, it's not always giant leeches ready to invade the planet."

Alonso had only been there for a few months, he was still adjusting to life at Torchwood. Jack had promised him adventure and he'd had plenty of it. So it came as a bit of a shock to find something as benign as a flower.

"Looks like a flower from the Nine Deserts of Samal. No, don't touch it," Jack cautioned when Alonso reached out a hand to touch it. "It contains one of the most potent poisons in all the Universe." Alonso quickly put his hands in his pockets. Not so harmless after all.

"So…what now? Grab a containment box from the SUV?"

"Yeah, and the green gloves your hands look so good in," Jack said with a wink.

Alonso rolled his eyes, but smiled as he fetched the containment box. Jack was incorrigible, but it was one of the things Alonso loved most about him. He could be inappropriate at times and sometimes amazingly sweet. He returned with the box and careful placed the flower in the container, he took care not to damage any of its petals.

"You know I dated a guy once, he was a man-eating plant named Larry in the Boshane Province, he could do this really neat trick with his--"

Alonso cut him off. "Can we continue this story in the SUV? It smells here."

"Believe me, this is not nearly as bad as the swamps of Ahkanda."

"I know, Jack, I know."

If there was one thing Jack actually loved about Alonso, it was the fact he knew what the hell Jack was talking about when he mentioned something such as the swamps of Ahkanda.

The flower was the most interesting thing the team had seen in weeks so when they returned to the Hub, Jack, Alonso, and Gwen flocked to an examination table.

"A poisonous alien flower. Of course," Gwen said, running a scanner over it. "Does it have any use?"

"Apart from almost instant death? Some planets use it like opium, it's part of the intergalatic drug trade."

Alonso sat down and stared at it. Out of no where he said, "I suppose everything has a purpose. Except the Snuggie." Jack had recently purchased a Snuggie for himself and Alonso was taking every available opportunity to tease him about it. He was fascinated by earth culture, but honestly sometimes it just didn't make sense.

Jack scoffed. "It's the blanket without sleeves! Of course, it has a use. It keeps my hand free for _other_ uses." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Further innuendo was cut short by several loud thuds.

"What the hell was that?" Alonso hissed. He'd recently been investigating the earth's fascination with horror movies by watching tons of them; the effect was it left him a little jumpy.

"Its just the Hub settling."

"That's what they said in that movie! Then everyone died horribly."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Gwen, did anyone enter the Hub while we were out in the field?"

"No." She checked her computer. "None of the cells below have been open. All Torchwood prisoners are accounted for."

They heard another thud and this time Jack took out his Webley, hoping to calm Alonso's nerves. His lover copied his actions, albeit with shaky hands. "Stay here, Gwen. Be prepared to cover us if anything happens."

Alonso and Jack stood still until they could make out which direction the noise was coming from. The midshipman paled when he realized it was coming from the cryogenetic chambers. "You realize movies are fake, right?"

"Y--yeah, but there's noise coming from _that_ place."

Jack shrugged. They were close now and could make out which chamber was active. The Captain swallowed when he realized which one it was coming from. With a deep breath Jack opened the door, his gun trained on the body bag inside. It was moving very faintly up and down and he could hear breathing. Jack suddenly felt his mouth go completely dry and his heart started to pound loudly in his chest. Try as he might, he could stop the hope that surged through his body.

He holstered his gun, trusting Alonso to back him up as he slowly undid the zipper. With another deep breath he pulled back the plastic and found Ianto Jones' blue eyes, full of life, staring back up at him.

"Jack. Thank God," the Welshman said breathlessly. He sat up and realized rather quickly where he was. "Oh. God. Jack. Why?"

Jack took a step back, and Alonso copied the movement. "You died." Jack couldn't keep the tears out of his voice. Was this real or had he gone so far off the deep end that he was hallucinating his dead lover? Ianto certainly seemed real enough. He was wearing the red shirt that Jack had spent plenty of times ogling him in--or getting him out of, as was often the case.

Jack found that his legs couldn't support him anymore and slunk to the floor. He was shaking violently; various emotions, pain, grief, love, shock, were coursing through his bloodstream. With some difficulty Ianto joined his boyfriend on the floor and put a loving arm around his shoulders. "Cariad." That single word broke Jack and he started to sob uncontrollably.

By now, Gwen had joined them, staring with wonder at Ianto. "You…you're alive…but how?"

"I don't remember anything," the newly resurrected man said, his arms still wrapped around Jack.

Alonso took several steps away from the scene before him. It was too much too bear. He'd known the relationship between him and Jack was casual. They'd never defined their relationship and Alonso had been patient. Jack had lost someone he loved dearly, after all. He'd accepted it. But now seeing the two of them together…he realized he had never meant anything to Jack; the Captain didn't care about him. Ianto and Jack were meant to be together, Alonso and Jack weren't. Such a revelation cut him like a knife.

TBC

**[Apologies to anyone who loves the Snuggie.]**


	2. Chapter 2

**[a/n: You know when you write something and you're like, okay this is it and then you redraft it and suddenly you have way too many possibilities before you and you're at a loss of which to choose? This just happened to me with this story. Aaaigh! There may be something worse than writer's block.]**

**Chapter 2. Questions**

Hours passed before the team was finally able to return to the Hub. Only minutes after Ianto had-they hadn't yet decided what to properly call it-_risen_, the Rift monitors had started to go crazy. So Ianto had been left on his own.

He wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he'd been dead. It didn't feel like he'd been dead. He remembered thinking, _I'm about to die_, and the 456, then only darkness. When he'd woken in the morgue, panic had gripped him. Desperately he had tried to escape, struggling violently, but in vain. Suddenly Jack had been there and nothing else mattered. He hadn't been able to understand the tears that had filled Jack's eyes until he told him he'd died. And he hadn't time to focus on that statement because he found his lover crying.

Ianto looked down at his hands, the same hands Jack had gripped tightly before he and his team had answered the Rift alert. It was the only thing keeping Ianto from going insane; he had too many questions.

In an attempt to take his mind off things, he'd showered and changed into his clothes. Most of his things were still there. Right next to Alonso's. Since he had the time and the motivation, (who was this Alonso Frame fellow anyway?), and a desperate need to distract himself, he began furiously cleaning the Hub. He was horrified by the state it was in. Papers littered the floor, the cages below hadn't been cleaned properly in months, and there was takeout and pizza boxes strewn everywhere; also a mysterious stain in the kitchen that may have once been some sort of meal. And then there were the tea bags. He stared at them with a mad look in his eyes; there had undoubtedly been brought in by Torchwood's newest team member. He started to mop the floor with more vigor than absolutely necessary.

After a couple more hours, he decided to clean the coffee maker, which hadn't been used since his apparent death, and brew himself a relaxing cup. The only problem was that when he got around to taking a sip it _tasted vile._ Ianto Jones set the coffee cup back on the counter. He paused; come to think of it, he wasn't the slightest bit hungry or thirsty. He ought to have been ravenous. He thought of Owen suddenly. Was he a dead man walking now? Before the panic could set in, Jack swept into the Hub, alone.

Part of Jack had been afraid that Ianto had really been an illusion. When the familiar shape of Ianto turned towards him, he felt relieved. Like he was finally home. They faced one another, silently staring at the other. There was so much to say and Jack didn't know where to begin.

"So…you and Alonso." Ianto took a bitter sip of his bitter tasting coffee. He hadn't intended for _that_ to be the first words out of his mouth. It was reflex; Ianto could feel the bitter feeling of jealously rise up in him. He didn't try to fight it.

"Ianto." Jack stayed where he was, his eyes locked with his lover's. "It's not like that."

"Then, tell me, what is it like?" Oh, great, now he was jealous and angry. Perfect.

"He isn't your replacement. You could never be replaced."

"Then, what is he?"

Jack cringed mentally. He hadn't wanted Ianto to ask him such a difficult question. "After you died, I left this galaxy. I traveled, wandered really." He looked down at his hands. "I wanted to die, but of course I couldn't. I was in a bar, drowning my sorrows when the Doctor led me to Alonso. So I took a chance. I thought maybe if I had someone to hold onto at night, it would lessen the pain." He sighed. "It only made me miss you even more."

"Alonso is just a part-time shag, then?"

"You could put it that way." What Jack didn't say was, _Please please forgive me. I love you._

Ianto seemed to come to a decision; the frown lines on his forehead went away and he looked suddenly calmer. He _was_ jealous. Jack had been fooling around with someone else, regardless of whether or not this person meant anything. Ianto had been dead and he supposed that made it forgivable, even if the thought of Jack and that shrimp was unbearable. He loved Jack too much to stay angry with him for long. He sighed. "It's okay, Cariad. However, you will have to be punished," Ianto said innocently.

Jack who had been staring at the floor suddenly looked up with a hopeful expression on his face when he heard the word "punished." To confirm his suspicions the Welshman grabbed him by the collar until their faces were only inches apart. "Until you beg for mercy." That sentence sent a chill down Jack's spine (and also made his pants feel suddenly tighter.) He loved when Ianto talked like that.

"But first, taste this coffee."

"Is this part of the punishment?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"I suspect it might be."

Jack took a sip, making a sound that made Ianto's breath hitch. "It's perfect."

"It tastes awful to me."

Jack just shrugged, his mind more intent on other things, as he kissed Ianto.

The next day, Jack and Ianto were no where to be seen in the Hub. Gwen and Alonso were monitoring the Rift, under strict orders from Jack not to call him unless it was dire.

Alonso swiveled his chair so that he was facing towards Gwen. "Can I ask you something?" Gwen nodded, rearranging the contents of a folder. "When Suzie came back didn't she start killing people?"

Gwen paused. "Yeah, she did. But it was her plan from the start. Look if you're thinking of Ianto, it's not like that."

"How can you be so sure?"

Gwen was protective of Ianto. She still remembered how broken Jack had been when he returned to Torchwood. When Jack had left Torchwood he'd left everything in shambles, when he came back _he _was the one in shambles. Even thought he'd brought Alonso with him, he wasn't Jack. Only recently had Jack started to return to normal-cracking jokes and sexually harassing almost everyone he met. But Gwen could still see that it was an effort on his part. With Ianto back, Jack would really come home and for Gwen that was a wonderful development. "He loves Jack."

"Exactly my point. If he loves him," Alonso's heart felt like it was constricting as he said those words, "Then planning on his death and his return isn't that unlikely."

"Ianto wouldn't," she said firmly, but doubt started to creep into her mind. It did make perfect sense, she reluctantly admitted. Ianto knew something of what had Jack lost during his long life. All the people Jack loved would die eventually, but he would continue on. Was it really so wild an idea that Ianto had made safeguards to keep himself by Jack's side for as long as possible? Gwen remembered Ianto hiding Lisa in the basement; he had deceived them all for months without a hint. "But he just woke up, it's nothing like with Suzie."

"Don't you find that odd?"

"Alonso, this is Torchwood. My co-workers coming back to life is not the weirdest thing I've seen."

"People don't just come back to life."

Gwen bit her tongue. Apparently Alonso had no clue about Jack's immortality. She pondered what Alonso had said about Ianto. What safeguards could he have possibly created to bring himself back to life? She remembered Suzie and the aptly named Risen Mitten, but there hadn't been a string of murders that required Ianto's resurrection and no one in Torchwood had attempted to bring Ianto Jones back to life. "How could he?" she mumbled aloud. She turned back to Alonso. "I think it's worth looking into. Go through the alien tech files. See if you can find anything that might bring a person back to life."

**[Review if you ever want to see an ending. I mean, please review, I appreciate your thoughts.]**


	3. Chapter 3

**[A/N: So sorry for the long wait. I spent some time in the I Suck Abyss and then I tried to write this chapter and I kept having to hit delete because it sucked epically. Hopefully this sucks less. Also, JSYK I'm always really nervous about updating this story so I chicken out a LOT.]**

**Chapter 3. Investigations**

The alleyway was dark, dank, and depressing. Yet this was the very alleyway Boggle, an adorable Jack Russell, had chosen to go. Maybe the smell of stale excrement had invited him in. Whatever the reason, his owner ended up in the same predicament.

Jess found herself staring into the darkness, calling Boggle's name, saying a silent prayer that he would run back to her. She offered him treats and his favorite toys, but he was not coming out of that alleyway. With a sigh she made up her mind: she would have to go in there. Using her cell phone as a light she made her way between two derelict buildings.

"Boggle?" She heard a noise to her right and turned, the cell's puny light unable to illuminate the stifling blackness of the alleyway. "Boggle?"

Somewhere to her left she heard a moan. The skin on the back of her neck prickled and she slowly backed up. Without warning something grabbed her. Jess screamed, dropping her cell phone into the muck on the ground.

She heard a bark and Boggle latched onto whatever had her. But he was too late; Jess had already been bitten, her fate was sealed.

Ianto stared at the digital clock next to the bed. 4:01, 4:02...He was pretty sure he'd dozed off at some point, but he hadn't had any real sleep. After several more minutes ticked agonizingly slowly by, Ianto decided to get up and wander around the Hub or take a walk…anything was better than laying here.

He started to crawl out of bed, but a hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Where are you going?" Jack's groggy voice asked.

"Just for a walk. Go back to sleep."

"Don't leave me," Jack said so plaintively Ianto turned back to look at him.

"I'm not going to leave you. Why would you say that?"

Jack pulled him back into a tight embrace. "I thought maybe…you'd decide you wanted someone less…difficult. When you found out I had a family…"

Ianto knew Jack wasn't talking about just leaving to take a walk.

"I was hurt. After two years together, I thought I knew most of it. I realized I didn't. But I'm not stupid, Jack, if I had never died, I don't think I would've broken us off." He ran a hand along Jack's face. A small smile had started to form on his lips. Jack was being needy. He was the one second-guessing the relationship now, not Ianto; and the Welshman found it irresistibly

adorable. "I thought a whole day of sex would have reassured you how serious I am."

Jack was sitting up now, his back against the headboard, seemingly lost in his thoughts. He hadn't even smiled at the memory of the past twenty-four hours they'd spent together. Ianto felt a familiar feeling of uncertainty pool in his belly.

"Ianto…I…"

Jack's wrist strap buzzed. "Time to go." He shot up out of bed, tugging his pants on. Ianto copied the urgency of his lover's movements.

"What's happened?"

"Rift!"

Jack rushed out to the monitors. He was prepared for whatever the Rift threw at them today. What Jack found was the Rift was fine. No emergency. He looked around bewilderedly for what had triggered the alarm. Alonso' computer monitor was lit up; in big, red flashing letters were the words: search completed, 70 results found. Annoyed that his time with Ianto had been interrupted by a silly internet search, he clicked on the screen. Might as well find out what was so important that an alarm had been triggered. Jack expected Alonso had been searching on e-bay again, he loved finding rare alien artifacts there.

"What is it?" Ianto asked, coming to stand next to his lover.

"Alonso ran a search on people coming back from the grave."

Ianto was silent. Alonso didn't trust him. It didn't really bother him; he wasn't sure he could trust himself. Besides, if Alonso had an agenda against Jack's newly risen boyfriend, he would be taken care of-Torchwood style or shipped back to his home planet.

"There are seventy hits here, Yan. The parameters he set up…seventy cases like yours."

Jack swiveled around in his office chair, nonchalantly tapping a feathered riding crop on the boardroom table. Gwen certainly didn't want to know why he was holding that, or what it had been used for. Ianto was making a point not to look at the riding crop; he kept his face perfectly neutral even as images of what it had been used for flashed through his head.

Jack ran the riding crop along his chin. "Apparently my Welshman isn't the only who's come back from the dead." He set his elbows on the table, looking intently at both Gwen and Alonso. "Do you two have something to say to me?"

Gwen swallowed. "Alonso and I were trying to understand why Ianto came back. We had to look after Torchwood," she said to Jack, reminding him he hadn't always been there to look after the secret institution.

"Feeling a little peckish, Yan? Craving, oh, I don't know, brains?"

"No, sir."

"He's pale! Food tastes bland to him! And I doubt he's been sleeping!" Alonso burst out suddenly, then looked sheepish and stared at the tabletop.

"The last part is true-but it's my fault he hasn't been sleeping." Jack turned his bright white grin on Ianto who gave a small smile in return. "Torchwood Cardiff has bigger issues than why Ianto is standing here now. We have an epidemic on our hands-" He pointed to several stacks of folders. "Seventy cases of people rising from the dead in the last month. People are coming back to life, we need to find out why. There is also an alarming trend-sixty-six cases in which these people attacked someone else. Put everything else aside and focus on this today. Got it?"

Alonso nodded. "On it, boss." He skulked out of the meeting room.

"I'll go make my strongest brew." Ianto gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek, leaving Gwen and Jack alone.

"We still need to know whether Ianto is related to these cases or not, Jack. Have you considered the possibilities?"

Jack hadn't, not really. The past thirty six hours had been like a bleary dream. He touched, he tasted, he did not think. "No."

"What if Ianto is just like Suzie?"

"It's Ianto. I know him; he wouldn't go on a murdering spree to get back to me."

"Yes, he would and you know it. He's closer to you than anyone-except for your Doctor."

Jack sat back down in his chair. "Do you think Ianto acquired an alien device to ensure he could come back? To make sure death would not be the end?" He spoke quietly; Gwen almost didn't hear him.

"He loves you. Isn't that enough of an answer?" Gwen got up, straightened her jacket and headed back to her desk.

Gwen was only partially right. It was true the Doctor knew him quite well, better than anyone, but there was also someone else. Someone who had looked into the very heart of the Tardis.

**[A/N: Currently I'm torn between several options of how Ianto came back to life: A. Zombie! B. Alien tech device I would have to invent and make cooler than the "Risen Mitten" C. The person who made Jack immortal. I would love to hear your thoughts on how Ianto came back to life, this chapter, and any constructive critiques you have on my writing.] **


	4. Chapter 4

**[A/N: A big thank you to everyone for their reviews, adding this story to favorites, or putting**

**this story on alerts. Seriously, I would have probably abandoned this otherwise. The vote is pretty much unanimous for Ianto to be brought back by Rose Tyler. I'm not sure whether or not this'll work, but I already have an ending in mind. Now what am I gonna do about the blasted zombies? I present you with the fourth installment which probably sucks, but bear with me, k? I'm new to writing fanfiction.]**

**Chapter 4. The Undead**

_Jack was crying. He was somewhere beneath an azure sky, crouched in the purple grass, weeping. It all hurt too much. He just wanted it to be over. For the pain to be over. _

_He had cried after he held his lifeless body in his arms, but not like this. Great wracking sobs were erupting from him and he felt like he couldn't breathe. It all hurt too much. Why didn't he tell him? Why hadn't he told him every day of his life that he loved him? Why hadn't he said how much he craved the feel of his skin against his, the scent of his body, the depths of his blue eyes?_

_He'd told him "don't" because he was afraid. He, Captain Jack Harkness, was terrified. Loving someone again after he'd lost so many. If he had him back for even one more minute he would tell him how much he loved him. _

"Jack, why are you staring at me?" Ianto asked, not taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"Because you're beautiful," Jack answered automatically. This was Ianto's third day back from the grave and Jack hadn't been able to shake off the dream like quality of the past few days. He bent down and kissed his ear, trailing kisses down to his neck.

"Jack. I'm trying to work here. Seventy people, Jack, and I might be one of them."

The Captain reluctantly pulled his mouth away from his boyfriend's collarbone. "Don't."

"We don't know how I came back. We can't rule out the possibility. Sixty-six of these seventy people have gone insane, what if it happens to me?"

"It won't."

Ianto turned in his seat to look up at his lover. "You don't know that."

"If you go insane, I'll keep you, but I won't let you go, never again." He buried his face in Ianto's neck, breathed in his scent.

"Cariad." He turned to him and pressed his lips softly to his. "I had a dream about you; at least I think it was a dream, I don't remember falling asleep."

Jack flashed him a cheeky grin, "Oh, really?"

"It wasn't one of _those_ dreams." He rolled his eyes playfully. "You were on an alien planet, sobbing uncontrollably. It was strange because I felt…your grief. Your sorrow. It felt very real and I cried." Even now, staring at Jack, Ianto's eyes were moist.

Jack touched his face. "Everything's fine now."

"You wanted to tell me something." Ianto's brow furrowed as he tried to remember the dream. "You regretted not telling me how much you loved me, said you should have told me every day how much you cared."

The skin on the back of Jack's neck prickled. He remembered that day. "My ship broke down on some backwater planet; the sky was blue and the "grass" was purplish. I was stranded and…I broke down too. I wished I'd done things differently in your last moments…How did you…how could you know?" he whispered, his voice held a certain measure of awe in it.

"Maybe you told me about it?" Ianto offered.

But Jack shook his head. "I don't think that's it." He paused for a heartbeat. He opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden thudding sound stopped him. He drew his gun and Ianto did likewise.

"Jack, it's coming from the cryogenic chambers."

"Well, let's see who we have here."

They made their way quickly towards the chambers, knowing it wouldn't be anything harmful. Probably. Person number seventy-one. Although there were a few things in these chambers that weren't exactly human…

Jack put a hand on the door handle and on the count of three opened it. The body bag had been ripped to shreds and the body which had previously inhabited it was…well, it looked like something out of a zombie horror flick. It had the characteristic pale pallor, a bit of rotting flesh on one side of its face, and a general lack of life in its eyes. It sat up, seemingly to regard them with some level of basic intelligence.

"Jack, what the hell is that thing?"

"Um, I think itsazombie," he spoke quickly because the idea seemed crazy. He'd seen plenty of the creatures that inhabited the universe, both past, present and future. He'd never encountered actual _zombies. _

Jack's words did not invite an inkling of confidence. The zombie, smelling ripe brains, moved forward, fell out of the chamber, and slowly picked itself up. It moaned, an awful sound, and started to shuffle forward.

"Do we kill it?"

Jack hesitated. He briefly considered whether or not there was a way to reverse the creature's current state. "It reminds me of a Weevil. Maybe it's a new kind of Weevil?" he mused.

The creature made a move towards Jack and Ianto fired. He shot it in the head, shattering the front of its skull and causing brains to be scattered around them.

"Was that necessary?" Jack asked, observing the brains now stuck to his coat.

"I really didn't want to watch that thing split your skull open."

Jack bent down to examine the corpse.

"Who was it?"

"According to the name plate inside it belonged to Jane Madson. I don't remember her so she must have died badly. A victim, not a colleague." He pointed down to her neck. "Those might be marks from a Weevil." He stood back up. "Make a new folder, Ianto. Number seventy-one."

Alonso Frame found himself out in the back garden of Mr. and Mrs. Brooker's house. They were Case number sixty-five, one of the most recent. Gwen was inside with Mrs. Brooker, asking questions about Mr. Brooker's…um,…return. Alonso, in turn, was going to ask the man of the house a few questions. He was supposedly in the garden, but he hadn't caught sight of him yet.

His eyes wandered over the various flower bushes until he caught sight of a balding head, laying down. He walked towards it, hand on his gun. He checked for a pulse, but Mr. Brooker was dead. Again.

"Gwen!" he shouted in the direction of the open window. Gwen poked her head out the back door.

"What's wrong?"

"He's dead," Alonso mouthed, not wanting to frighten the widow.

"What do y-?" Suddenly Gwen's eyes went wide and she pointed behind Alonso.

He whipped around, his coattails flying with the quick movement. "Holyfuckingshit," he hissed. Mr. Brooker was alive and moving towards him in a slow, lumbering walk. If it hadn't been for the glazed look in his eyes and the strange moan emitting from his mouth, Alonso wouldn't have paid him any mind. "He was dead. Just a second ago."

For Alonso this was like something out of a nightmare or a scenario from one of the many guidebooks on how to survive a zombie apocalypse. He and Gwen had spent the whole day investigating the most recent cases. This was the fourth case they'd looked into today. The others had all ended up in the same place: the Cardiff loony bin.

Mrs. Brooker stepped outside. "What's going on?" She looked from her husband then down to the guns Alonso and Gwen were holding. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You should go inside." Gwen spoke gently, but Mrs. Brooker didn't move.

Mr. Brooker just moaned at his wife.

"John? John, what's wrong, dear?"

"Mrs. Brooker, stay back!" Gwen warned. But the woman didn't listen, she made a dash for her husband, thinking something was wrong with him. She couldn't possibly realize the danger she'd just put herself in. Gwen made a move to stop her, but she was a second too late and Mr. Brooker attacked.

On instinct, Alonso shot him in the shoulder, but it only slowed him down a bit. The recently risen man bit his wife's neck. As she shrieked and tried to get away Gwen pulled on her arms.

The woman passed out from shock and blood loss and Gwen jumped back when she realized it was no use. She watched in silent horror as Mr. Brooker feasted on his wife's brains.

"Remember that joke you made in the SUV about the zombie apocalypse?" Gwen asked, her face full of disgust as Mr. Brooker masticated the delicious spread of brains before him.

He snorted. "Yeah…it was a joke. Zombies don't exist!"

"Tell that to the werewolf we caught last month."

"That was a Lunar Canine, an alien." He looked away suddenly, dashed towards the rose bushes, and retched into them. Watching that scene was too much for him.

Gwen fired several rounds into its body, but it continued on as if nothing had happened. "Alonso! How do we kill it?"

He was on his knees, chest heaving. "Chop off its head. Crack its skull open."

Gwen nodded and retrieved a serviceable shovel from the small shed in the back. After several good whacks, its skull cracked opened and all that was left of Mr. Brooker slumped, unmoving, onto the green grass.

"You were saying?"

Alonso wiped his mouth with sleeve. "Okay. Zombies may exist."

**[A/N: Is it just me or is Alonso starting to sound like Owen just a little bit? *grabs head in frustration* I'm probably not getting any of the voices right…Review? Please?]**


	5. Chapter 5

**[A/N: YAY! An update. I'm so proud of myself. I know part of this chapter will go against established Torchwood views that death is really the end and that there's nothing. But bear with it, k? Cos it's sweet.]**

**Chapter 5. Apocalypse**

"I think maybe I twisted something," Alonso said, limping into the Hub. Gwen, looking the worse for wear, trailed him. After the "incident" with Mr. Brooker, the pair had run into a group of about five zombies walking near an abandoned warehouse. After a vicious confrontation they had managed to bring the zombies down-but just barely. Alonso had greatly underestimated them. Zombies were vicious little buggers in the face of a possible food source. He had expected the newly reanimated to be easy targets-just like in the movies-but the creatures he and Gwen encountered were far different.

Once inside the presumed safety of the Hub, Jack called them all to an impromptu meeting in his office. With a groan Gwen and Alonso trudged up the stairs and flopped down into the waiting chairs. Ianto, like a good butler, brought them coffee and remained standing.

"What do you have to report?" Jack folded his arms; he too remained standing.

"Zombies are fast little buggers."

Gwen sighed. "Jack, can't this wait?"

"No." Jack looked at them both intensely. "While you were out one of _them_ woke up in the cryogenic chambers and nearly mauled Ianto and I. Case seventy-one. After pouring over the case files it appears the reanimation process is being accelerated. A month ago this all started, first week-just one, next week there's twenty and on and on. However this is happening it's getting worse and we have got to stop it."

"How many dead people do you think there are in Cardiff?" Alonso asked, holding a cold compress to his throbbing head.

"Including our dead? Too many. The reanimated rise and bite the living, creating more zombies. After taking down the entire city of Cardiff, the dead will spread out to other parts of Britain. London. Glasgow. Bristol. Everywhere. The living dead take over. And what if these things can live underwater? Once the food source is gone, they'll have to go somewhere else."

"The rest of the world," Gwen said in a horrified whisper.

"Exactly. We have to stop them and fast, before it gets too out of hand."

"Alonso and I interviewed people for almost half the cases today." She got up slowly and walked over to the drawing board. "There are several consistencies. We're dealing with two types of cases: the dead coming back from graves and the living being bitten and turned into zombies." Gwen was getting back into police woman mode; Jack smiled. "A dead person comes back from the grave. They look fine, but they are unusually pale, they don't eat, they don't sleep. They retain their senses of smell and touch. They can still rationalize, they can still speak. In a lot of ways they're similar to Owen. They retain most of the memories of their old life as well."

Jack started to pace, nodding along with Gwen's words.

"In five days, they die. Then they come back as zombies. The second type of case are those who were alive when a zombie attacked them. Less than half the cases are like this. Those people are fine for five days. Then they die and come back, all humanity gone." Gwen's words echoed in the silence of the office.

This was bad, very bad. The End of the World bad.

Jack looked towards Ianto. He was pale, if he tried to eat anything it tasted awful, and hadn't been sleeping very well-if at all. Jack felt fear grip his chest. Ianto. His Ianto was going to die again.

Jack held him tightly that night. So tightly the Welshman had trouble breathing. They hadn't slept together which was highly unusual. The touch Jack craved was not one born of passionate desire but one born of gentle caresses. He wanted to hold him and never let go. He wanted this moment to stretch into eternity.

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"I want you to be the one to do it."

Jack lifted his head away from the pillow. "Do what?"

"When it's day five I want you to end me."

"Don't say that. Don't." Jack could feel the skin on the back of his neck prickle.

"It might stop the transformation."

"Are you forgetting I'm immortal? I'll keep you no matter what."

"And what if I bite you?" Ianto's voice was slightly furious. "Do you want to spend forever as a zombie? No, Jack, I need to trust you to do what needs to be done." He twisted around so they were face-to-face. "I love you. You know that. But if I turn into a zombie, Jack, I need to know you'll stop me. I need to know you'll move on again."

"Again? I never moved on, Yan. Is that what you really think?"

Ianto sighed. "I don't know how deep your relationship with Alonso ran, but I know you, Jack. You always move on. The years will go by and you'll need someone, Jack. Remember that dream I had, Cariad? I don't want you to be as miserable and alone as you felt then. I want you to have a good life whether I'm here or not."

"I won't forget you, Ianto Jones. I swear I won't. Not ever." Jack couldn't stop a little emotion from creeping into his voice.

"You will outlive even the last stars, Jack. I will be just a blip in time. A fond memory, an old faded photograph. But I hope one day when you do die, I'll be waiting."

Jack froze. _I'll be waiting for you, Jack. That's a promise. _"Have you been dreaming about me a lot?"

"I don't really sleep. At least I don't think I do." Ianto frowned. "The dream about you crying on that alien planet, and there were others."

"What others?" Jack asked eagerly.

"I don't know." His brow furrowed as he tried to remember. "One with you and a strange blue alien lady, she tried to sell you something to make you forget your troubles. One where you traveled to a different planet and got yourself incinerated, but you came back anyway."

"Ianto, those things happened."

"What? All of them? You must have told me then."

"No, I didn't. We were doing things that didn't require talking. Any others?"

"One of you and Alonso sleeping side by side. I can't remember any more."

Jack wanted to laugh; he wanted to cry. "You've been with me this whole time. I don't believe you're dreaming, I think you're _remembering_."

"But you've said it yourself, sir, there is nothing but darkness. I was dead. Was I a ghost?"

"I don't know. Tell me about the dream with Alonso and me in the same bed."

"It was strange. You woke up and I spoke to you. You told me I was dead and I said people didn't have a tendency to glow."

"You called Alonso 'a decent replacement.'"

"Was that all real?"

"Yes," Jack said breathlessly, joyfully. His Ianto had been with him this entire time, watching over him. It had to mean something. Maybe Jack could finally have what had been torn away from him: Ianto Jones.

**[A/N: Not really sure if that was too cheesy or not. The whole "I'm with you always" bit. But**

**it was such a sweet thought, my fangirl brain had no hope of resisting. Also any thoughts on whether or not Alonso should die? I'm considering killing him off, but he's starting to resemble Owen and now I'm conflicted about whether or not to turn him into a zombie. Review, k?]**


	6. Chapter 6

**[A/N: I would've had this up sooner, but unfortunately internet access has been a bit sketchy or when I have had internet access, this piece wasn't ready. So sorry for the delay! Also I know this chapter looks pretty gloomy, but there is a spark of hope in one of those paragraphs, an inkling of what is to come.]**

**Chapter 6. Complicated**

Ianto stared at the wall. He was sitting on the bed he and Jack shared, calmly. He raised his hands and studied those too.

It was a strange feeling: knowing you would be dead tomorrow. What was he supposed to do with this knowledge? There seemed too much to do. He should spend every second telling Jack and Gwen how much he loved them. He should write them each a letter to read after he'd gone. He should even talk to Alonso and make sure Jack was looked after…

But here he was sitting on their bed, doing _absolutely_ nothing.

Jack, Gwen, and Alonso were racing around Cardiff, finding out more about the zombies. But Ianto knew it was all a waste of time. The only cure for the current zombie apocalypse was to wipe them all out. There was no "cure," and probably never would be, until it was too late.

Too late for Ianto anyway.

He was surprised he wasn't crying. Most people when faced with certain death seemed to have a bad habit of turning into mindless, blubbering idiots. He hadn't done that, even the first time he realized he was about to die. He'd accepted it. Death was part of Torchwood. He thought of Tosh and Owen and his mouth curved into a small smile.

He missed them. They all did.

He wondered what Owen and Tosh would say if they were there before him. Tosh would probably comfort him, pat his arm reassuringly, look at him with compassionate sorrow. Owen… He'd probably suggest they all have a massive orgy or something. Ianto laughed at the thought. And then the tears began to fall, slowly at first, but picking up speed.

He didn't want to leave and go back to the darkness.

He frowned, something hovering on the edge of his memory. Had it been dark? No there had been a light. It had been small, he remembered, but slowly it had grown. It wasn't an ordinary light there had been something strange about it. Maybe it had been a heavenly sort of light. So obviously Ianto wouldn't have been familiar with it. For some bizarre reason the light reminded him a little of Jack…

"Jack, there's nothing more we can do," Gwen said.

The trio were standing outside the SUV in the middle of an empty lot in Cardiff after an exhausting day spent destroying zombies.

"We have to find the source."

Gwen put a hand on his arm. "Jack," she said softly.

He looked at her, pain and grief in his eyes. "What if this were Rhys?"

They both knew the answer: she'd do anything to save her husband. She had, hadn't she? By opening the Rift and nearly destroying the world.

"Could the Rift help?"

"Can't take that risk. Who was the first victim?"

"Michael Danly, construction worker, 33, fell off a ladder last year," Gwen read from a laptop. "He was disposed of, Torchwood style."

"Wife?"

"Mary Danly, 31. Works for T.E.C.H. Corps."

"T.E.C.H Corps?"

"Computers and stuff."

"Hn. Stuff. What kind of stuff?"

Gwen shrugged. "I don't know, stuff. Are you sure we should've left Ianto back at the Hub all on his own?" she asked in a worried tone.

Jack winked. "Ianto's a big boy, he can handle it. Give me the address for T.E.C.H. Corps."

"Jaaaack," Gwen whined, reminding him of the Doctor for a split second, "Alonso and I already looked into this."

Alonso who'd kept silent throughout the conversation now voiced his opinion. "It really was computers and gadgets. There's nothing there."

"Get in the SUV," Jack said in all too familiar tone that brooked no argument from either one of them.

Ianto wandered around the Hub, looking helpless as he tried his best to tidy up. If his mood hadn't been so black he might have laughed at the ridiculousness of tidying up on his last day on earth. This was how he was going to spend the day?

A sound made him look up and he started, fear making adrenaline rush through his veins.

"Fuck," he whispered at the zombie now standing before him. How had it broken out without him knowing? And dammit, he wasn't armed. The zombie shuffled forward and started to moan. It made a move towards the Welshman, its ugly maw open and revealing its rotten teeth.

Anger welled up inside of Ianto. "You want a piece of me?" he shouted. He didn't know where the emotion came from, but he was suddenly furious. He grabbed a frying pan and attacked it. With one swift stroke he smashed its skull open, the rotting brains spilling onto the kitchen tile.

Ianto stood there, breathing heavily. Then he realized who it was he had "killed". He remembered her from a case a year or so before his death. A girl caught in the crossfire, innocent and young, Ianto had watched her die. She hadn't deserved this.

Neither did he or Jack. In that moment he realized he would have to leave Torchwood. Jack wouldn't kill him. Maybe he could get Alonso to do it or maybe even Gwen…but Jack would keep him for as long as he could, holding on. Suddenly the idea of being a zombie for several years before his body finally rotted away was a worse horror than death.

Ianto realized he would have to be the one to end it, to end himself before that happened.

"Hello, Mary," Jack said, a disdainful smile on his face.

"Who are you?"

They were in the nearly empty parking garage of T.E.C.H. Corps.

"Torchwood."

Mary scoffed, making a move to unlock her car door. "I already spoke to Torchwood."

"But you didn't speak to me."

"What's it matter?"

Jack suddenly slammed the open door shut, coming close to smashing Mary's fingers.

"It matters because there are zombies running around the streets in Cardiff. It matters because you just so happen to know the first zombie to be resurrected. It matters because the man I love is in danger. Where's the device?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He slammed her against the car.

"Jack!" he heard Gwen admonish from somewhere behind him.

"You found something didn't you? And somehow you turned it on and it brought your husband back to life. Only five days later he turned into a zombie and you couldn't do anything so you let him out and he infected someone who in turn infected someone else. Isn't that right?"

She glared. "I'll scream if you don't let me go."

"Oh, you'll scream all right when I torture you."

"The police-"

Jack gave a bitter laugh. He was angry. He was so close to getting his happy ending and this stupid woman wasn't about to get in his way. "The police? We are the police. In fact we tell the police what to do." He ripped her briefcase from her hands and tossed it to Alonso.

"Is this it?" Alonso asked after a minute of rummaging. He held in his hand a small disc covered in various moving pieces. At the center was a rolling ball, almost like an eye.

"How's it work?"

Mary slumped against her car and started to cry, all her bravado gone. "I only wanted to see him again, to have one more moment with him. I found it in a shop. I didn't mean-"

Jack shook her lightly, trying to shake some sense back into her. "Tell me exactly what you did that made Michael come back."

"I went to his grave after I found it and I turned the ball around. There was some sparkling air that came out of it and dispersed. I didn't know-I didn't mean-" her voice trailed off incoherently.

He let her go and she slumped to the ground, crying.

"Jack," Gwen said, running a piece of tech over the device. "It has something inside it, the composition couldn't be entirely identified, but it looks like a virus."

"So she moves the ball and the virus is released. It still doesn't explain how it got into the Hub and into the graves of several people." He took the disc from her and studied it. He couldn't identify its planet of manufacture, but it looked like some sort of weapon. Could it be a weapon? Could the disc be thrown into an enemy army, and cause havoc? But not immediate havoc. Five days would pass before anything happened. But maybe that was the plan? Scout to an enemy territory, release the virus via the air. The enemy would praise Whoever for bringing their loved ones back to life then BAM! zombies wipe out the population. But then obviously all that's left are zombies. Not a good weapon afterall.

Jack turned the disc every way imaginable. "What are these ridges?" he muttered to himself. It looked like the device was missing a part and if that were the case, maybe there was a way to reverse the zombie mess with the missing piece.

"Was this all you found?"

Mary, slumped before his feet, nodding miserably.

Jack said nothing. They were still screwed.

**[A/N: I still had to come up with a piece of alien tech and I hate what I came up with. Sorry if the bit about the tech is confusing (it made sense to me when I wrote it.) I also had trouble with how Ianto would face His (supposed) Last Day On Earth. I myself would probably do nothing, or spend it with my beta reader and do nothing (though knowing us, there might be a suicide pact involved). So I hope what Ianto does is in character, lemme know if you think otherwise. Review? I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.] **


	7. Chapter 7

**[A/N: I'm sure there's probably plot stuff I'm missing. Alas, my beta reader does not read Torchwood, otherwise she would find all the holes so if there's anything I haven't explained clearly enough or forgot about feel free to mention it. Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, alerted, or favorited! (Otherwise I would've abandoned this a long time ago.)**

**Chapter 7. Strangers**

Ianto Jones carefully wiped away the leaves and other debris away from the headstone.

He wasn't even sure what he was doing there. The body of Lisa Hallet was at Torchwood; this headstone and the coffin beneath it were facades meant for her family. He was talking to an empty grave.

"I wish you were her," he whispered, tears cascading down his face. "I wish you could tell me what to do." After leaving the Hub, Ianto had wandered around helplessly before coming across this graveyard by chance. Or perhaps his subconscious had been at work. Now the despair was starting to settle in his bones.

He couldn't stop the ugly refrain playing in his head: you are going to die, you are going to die…

It was his last evening on earth and he would spend it with her, his first love.

"Hey, you alright?"

Ianto turned, startled, and looked up into the brown eyes of a worried blonde woman. She looked younger than he was, maybe only twenty years or so. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn't place it.

"Fine," Ianto replied automatically, plastering a small smile on his face. He'd done plenty of lying about his emotions in the past, it was almost natural now.

"Right. You're in a graveyard crying and you're fine."

He nodded, but his chin wobbled a little, giving him away.

She crouched down next to him. "You know, it's not the end of the world."

Ianto gave a bitter laugh. "You don't understand. It is, for me."

The young woman shook her head. "Not the end of anything. It's a beginning." Then she grinned at him and it was so infectious he felt a genuine smile on his own lips. She stood up and turned to go. "You'll see, Ianto Jones."

Ianto whipped around. "How did you-?" But the woman was already gone. How had she known his name?

Jack rushed into the Hub, hoping to find Ianto. Instead he found his stopwatch with a note underneath it: _Be back soon, -Love I. _Jack felt the skin on the back of his neck prickle. It wasn't like Ianto to leave his stopwatch. Or to leave the Hub while the others were out on a mission. He would always wait for their return, coffee and snacks in hand.

"Where's Ianto?" Gwen asked, walking into the Hub with Alonso at her heels.

"Says he's gone out."

Gwen paused, stopping mid-stride. "Jack, you don't think-?" She trailed off, but they were all thinking the same thing. Would Ianto actually go out and kill himself?

"I have to find him."

"Jack," Gwen said, getting ready to argue with him. They all three needed to be there to find out more about the alien device. Ianto's life was important, but they had to try and find a way to save him. And they needed Jack for that.

Before Gwen could speak further, a series of bangs reverberated from the cryogenic chambers.

"It's coming from the morgue," Alonso whispered, his voice shaky.

"Fuck!" Gwen mumbled and drew her gun. "Jack, it sounds like there's a lot of them."

There was a sound of metal being torn as the doors to the chambers were violently ripped open. This wasn't just one rogue zombie coming back to life. It rather sounded like it was _all_ of them.

The Torchwood leader turned the disc around in his hands, hoping to find a solution to their current predicament.

"Don't mess with it, Jack," Alonso said. "One wrong move and we could all end up as one of the living dead."

"These zombies are stronger," Jack said, his calculating gaze intent on a zombie emerging from the morgue. It sniffed the air and let out a low moan when it smelled fresh brains nearby. Jack casually flicked the safety off his Webley and shot it in the head. There was a spectacular mess of gore as its rotting forehead was shattered. "These zombies can rip apart metal."

"Jack, looks like Ianto took out a zombie in the kitchen before he left." Alonso jerked his head towards the kitchen.

Jack felt his stomach dip with fear. Ianto. Left. A. Mess. By the look in Gwen's eyes, she realized it too. The Welshman would never leave a mess behind unless he couldn't help it.

"Has he been kidnapped?" Gwen asked aloud.

"I need to find him." He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and called Ianto's cell. Distantly they could hear ringing somewhere in the Hub. Ianto didn't have his phone or a coms-link on. Jack took a deep breath and tried to shut out his emotions. He had to deal with the zombies quickly and then he could find Ianto.

"I don't think it's Mary."

"What? Are we seriously discussing this now?" Alonso nearly shouted, waving his gun around haphazardly for emphasis. "We're probably all about to become zombie chowder!"

"She may have brought her husband back, and a few others, but it doesn't explain the zombies here in the Hub. There's no way she used the device here. Then there's this: Why is it the zombies in the Hub come out as zombies? We haven't seen anything else come out human

except for a certain gorgeous Welshman. If a person woke up in a body bag, then in a five day period they'd try and make some noise, just as Ianto did, right?"

Jack paused, letting his words sink in.

"The zombies in the Hub are different. Except Ianto who's like the ones the device brought back…" Gwen trailed off, wanting Jack to continue.

"There has to be two different things going…two completely separate apocalypses. Mary started it, right?" The other two team members nodded. "She brought her dead husband back and started experimenting with the device. How many graveyards were involved where people actually rose from the dead?"

Alonso paused. "Three. So you're saying the zombies outside the Hub are all her doing and the zombies inside the Hub are-" he trailed off, waiting for Jack to continue.

"Then whose, Jack? Who raised the zombies here? Ianto? He isn't like the others in the Hub."

Jack had privately never dismissed the idea of a scheming Ianto making plans to return. Part of him liked the thought: Ianto would do anything to bring himself back for Jack's sake. Couldn't bear to be without him in the dark. But the Welshman was a huge anomaly. If he was the one who had inadvertently raised the dead from the morgue, why wasn't he like them? How was he brought back human, while the others woke as zombies? Ianto was the piece of the puzzle that just wouldn't fit no matter how hard they tried to jam it.

Three zombies, in a strange loping gait, emerged from the morgue. Three carefully aimed bullets found their marks simultaneously.

"That was cool! Just like a movie!" Alonso shouted, adrenaline from the fight starting to make him sound younger than he was.

Jack's head hurt from thinking about the zombie apocalypse. Mary messed up, but something else had to be messing with Torchwood. There didn't seem to be another explanation. But trying to figure out who was nigh impossible. Torchwood's list of enemies was…extensive.

"Someone is toying with us!" Jack shouted in frustration as another zombie was expertly shot down.

"You're right," someone said from up above, near Jack's office. All eyes turned towards the stranger. "Hello, Jack Harkness."

It was a chilly night and Ianto shivered against the wind. He knew he should leave. He knew he should go back to his lover and be wrapped up in his warm embrace. Spend his last night on earth with the person he loved.

But he couldn't.

He had to make sure Jack let go of him, for his sake. If he went back now Jack would never abandon him, never harm him, even when he turned into a zombie. He would never give up on finding a cure. It was time for Jack to move on, move past him.

Ianto shivered even more violently in the cold. His coat wasn't nearly warm enough. He wished harder that he was snuggled close in Jack's bed. He couldn't call it their bed anymore; Alonso would undoubtedly re-occupy it soon enough. He felt a twinge of jealousy in his gut at the thought, but pushed it aside. It was for the best.

He patted his pocket to reassure himself the gun was still there. This would be an act of love on his part. An act of love meant for Jack. He just hoped he understood it.

Eventually exhaustion overtook him and he closed his eyes and slept.

_It was dark. He knew he wasn't alone; he could sense things moving in the darkness. Blackness nothing but blackness…until a single pinpoint of light pierced it. Slowly, the light swelled out, brighter and brighter. It engulfed him. A warm, happy glow. It was too bright to see, but he could hear a voice calling his name…_

_He moved towards the voice._

**[A/N: Ugh…I hope that was all coherent. Review if you liked it or if you didn't. And if you don't review thanks for reading anyway. Hope you enjoyed it.]**


	8. Chapter 8

**[A/N: I know, I know, it's been a while. If anyone is actually still reading this I will be shocked. So sorry for the wait and don't hate me, k? Also the only reason I even found the inspiration for this is because my beta reader's mom just gave me ALL her Torchwood dvds WHICH IS INSANELY AWESOME. I realize I've turned into one of those annoying authors who update infrequently. FML. Enjoy and be sure to hit the button at the very end.]**

**Chapter 8. Revenge**

She was taller than most humans, about six feet five inches, with long legs and a slender neck. Her hair was cropped short and dyed purple; she was wearing short shorts and a leather vest that showed an ample amount of cleavage. It didn't take long for Gwen and Alonso to put two and two together. This woman-alien-person thing oozed sex.

She smiled benevolently down at them from one of the upper levels of the Hub. "Remember me?" she asked, meeting Jack's eyes.

"No," Jack said bluntly. He knew she was probably a one night stand, but if it was from his recent intergalactic adventures, it must be during the part he'd spent in a drunken haze.

"I found you laying in a puddle of your own vomit? Ring any bells, as the humans say?"

"Sorry. Guess you were too unmemorable."

Her smile turned cruel.

"Jack, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Gwen hissed. "Pissing her off like that?"

The Captain ignored Gwen. "What do you want?"

She bent down towards them, her hand gripping the railing tightly. "I want you to watch everyone you care about die." Her pretty face contorted into rage.

Alonso looked over at Jack. He blinked. "What did you do to her, mate?"

"He never called!" she screeched, revealing sharp teeth.

Jack crossed his arms and took what Ianto fondly called "his stubborn stance." "You're going to a lot of trouble just because I never called you after a "hook-up," as the folks down here say." He tapped his chin with his index finger. "The Orion Belt, I conned you, didn't I?"

Gwen, whose eyes had been fixed on the invader, suddenly turned her head towards Jack.

"Yes, you did and I spent fifty years in prison for it!"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly.

"Fifty years of my life! When I was finally released my entire family was dead."

Jack showed no remorse for his actions. "You were just as bad as me-no, worse. Why are you blaming me?" He aimed his gun at her and she laughed.

"Go ahead and shoot me, Jack Harkness. I'm going to take everything you love anyway. Torchwood will burn." She leaned forward, giving them all a clear view down her top. "And Ianto? He's going to blow his own brains out. Poor little Jacky, all alone on the playground."

"Shit," Gwen muttered. "Jack?"

"Ianto would never shoot himself!"

"Oh? And if he thought he was going to be transformed into a zombie?"

Jack froze. So that was her plan all along. This entire thing was a set-up, but why such a big one? Surely there was an easier way to get Ianto to shoot himself.

_Torchwood will burn._

"Jack, do you smell smoke?" Alonso asked, sniffing the air.

The woman above them gave them all a sickly sweet smile. "I thought I'd create some chaos in the city. Burn down a secret government hub. My planet was very advanced as Jack could tell you. And my zombies unlike this dumpy world's interpretation are a bit smarter. Right now they're pouring gasoline and whatever flammable products they can get their hands on. I know Torchwood can survive an explosion, but a fire with its fearless leader in the center, helpless? Even you, Jack, will feel the heat."

He fired his gun at her, hitting her in the shoulder. She flinched back, but the bullet sunk into her skin. It glowed brightly for a few seconds, illuminating the skin around it and then disappeared. "Hmm. That itched a bit."

"You won't get away with this," Jack said, an empty threat. He remembered her very clearly now. She was a bank robber by the human name of Andrea, Andy for short. She'd plundered galaxies of their wealth and possessed a flair for the dramatic. This wasn't just about revenge, but entertainment. Her entertainment. That was the reason for the zombies.

She took a step back from the balcony. Jack briefly considered running up the stairs and attacking her, but given their history…she had a back-up plan and a way out. Undoubtedly before he even finished taking a step towards her, she would disappear. Jack felt hopelessness start to crush him.

There wasn't a way out of this and he knew it.

"Well, I think it's time for me to go. I don't enjoy watching people burn…too much screaming."

Already Gwen was beginning to cough. The smoke from the flames was leaking in, spreading out…in a few minutes it would all be over. The fire was going to breach the cog doors, the zombies would make sure of it. Alonso shot a few more zombies, but they were of little concern to them now.

In the glowing (and growing) light of the flames Andy smiled down at Jack. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting with a certain Welshman…" Then Jack blinked and she was gone.

"Jack, what are we going to do?" Gwen asked, in between fits of coughing.

"I don't know."

Ianto fingered the gun in his hand. The sun was just breaking over the sea. It was beautiful and Ianto wished, not for the first time, his immortal lover was sitting next to him on the pier. It would be so romantic…

There were a lot of things Ianto hadn't done in his life. He'd always wanted to go to Paris or backpack across Europe. He'd always wanted to go into space (and shockingly in his line of work he _hadn't_). He thought of all the little things he'd wanted to do: books he wanted to read, movies he wanted to see, historical sites he wanted to visit around Cardiff.

And then there were the big things, the truly important things: get married, have kids, grow old together with the love of his life. And even though he knew those dreams had always been impossible he had wanted them. At the very least, he wanted to hear Jack tell him he loved him. He knew it was foolish, but he'd spent hours thinking about those possible futures. He pictured their wedding, Jack singing some corny song and their first dance, and cutting the cake. He imagined what their children might be like, he saw Jack as a fantastic father, and he could see small family gatherings with Gwen and Rhys and their child. And then there was the truly impossible dream: growing old with Jack. He imagined them both gray haired (Jack still as dashing as ever) and sitting idyllically on two rocking chairs on a porch.

Those were his dreams and none of them would ever come true.

Ianto picked up the gun. He needed to do this. He needed to do it now.

_The warm light swelled to encompass him. Ianto felt peace wash over him as the voice called his name._

"_Ianto Jones, take my hand."_

_He reached out and took it. It was a small hand, and by the feel and the voice it belonged to a woman._

"_Who are you?"_

_He couldn't see but he _felt_ the smile on her face. _

"_I'm a friend. Don't be afraid. You're story isn't over yet. Come away from the dark."_

_Ianto _was_ afraid, but the voice was soothing and nice and what could be worse than being alone in the dark?_

"_I'm taking you back to him. Back to Jack."_

"_Jack?" Ianto asked. Then he remembered. "Jack," he said with fondness in his welsh vowels. He allowed the hand to lead him out of the dark._

**[In the end, I had to invent a villain and then come up with a reason for the existence of the zombies. I'm pretty sure this story has more plot holes than Swiss cheese. I avoid seeing most of these by not thinking too hard about this story, so apologies for the crappy update.] **

**EDIT: 12-8-10: I realize I accidentally said Alonso shot some "of Mary's unremarkable zombies" while in the Hub. This is incorrect (they aren't Mary's zombies but Andy's) so I've deleted that section of the sentence. Just thought I'd tell you guys in case anyone was wondering. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9. Escape**

As soon as she disappeared Alonso rushed to the lift and found it disabled. There was no way out.

"We have to put out the fire," Jack said, standing stock still in the middle of the chaos. That was always Jack's way; no matter how bad things got, no matter how hopeless, he was always calm. Always in control. Always a leader. Gwen wondered about all the events in his past that had made him that way. But she didn't have long to wonder. They had too much to do.

"Jack!" Gwen shouted when Jack continued to stand there.

He snapped out of his reverie. "It's over," he whispered.

Alonso grabbed him suddenly by the collar of his coat and shook him. "No. It's not! Ianto is still out there, Jack. He needs you!"

The Captain stared at Alonso for a few more seconds before springing into action. "Right. We need to kill all the zombies in the Hub, the ones coming out of the chambers and the ones trying to burn us alive. Oh, and we need a way to stop the fire. Follow me!"

Jack, Gwen, and Alonso dashed up to Jack's office and the weapon's closet. "Put these on!" Jack ordered, tossing them a pair of goggles and ear muffs made of some sort of jell. They didn't stop to question the items, but strapped and buckled them on. Jack took out a large box from the storage, typed in a special code, and removed the huge alien gun from it. Its most distinguishing feature was its wide end, almost like the end of a vacuum cleaner and as thin as a disc.

"I would've used this sooner, but Owen could never quite figure out how it worked. Almost killed us several times, but hey, no time like the present." Jack switched it on and several buttons lit up. "It's sonic," he added with a grin, some of his usual bravado returning.

"Sonic?" Alonso muttered. "Who likes sonic?"

The Team followed Jack back down to the Hub, towards the cryogenic chambers. By this time, the sprinklers had turned on, but to little avail, the flames were raging to high and by the sound of things the zombies outside were slowly making progress to get inside.

More zombies poured out of the chambers and Jack aimed the piece of alien tech at them. He pressed the trigger and made a slow sweeping motion with the device. Gwen and Alonso watched, horrified and fascinated at the same time, as the sonic waves blasted apart the head of every zombie in its path.

Once those had been dealt with Jack aimed it back towards the cog door and the remainder of Andrea's zombies.

"Open the cog door," Jack barked and Alonso scrambled to obey.

"Jack!" Gwen screamed and he whipped around. Down below the Hub was burning too and one of the zombies had her by her jacket collar and was about to take a nice big chunk out of her head.

"Ianto Jones?"

The Welshman turned at the sound of the voice. It belonged to a tall woman with dyed purple hair, showing off an impressive amount of cleavage. Subconsciously his mind thought she was just Jack's type. "Yes?" he asked, aware his gun was only inches away from his fingertips.

"I'm a friend of Jack's. He's been out looking for you."

"You are? He has?"

She laughed lightly. "I'm so glad I found you! Jack will be so relieved to know you're safe. He's been worried sick."

"Who are you?" Ianto asked, suspicion creeping into his voice. There was no way Torchwood could have found him way out here. He had nothing traceable on him and if had Jack would've come himself.

"I'm Andy, a friend of Jack's." She smiled at him disarmingly.

"No, you aren't," Ianto said and grabbed his gun, aiming it at her head.

She shot him a hateful look. "Go ahead, wretch, do it. Shoot me. Though it looks as if the person you really want to shoot is yourself." She moved closer to him, despite looking down into the barrel of a gun. "I can help you."

"How?"

"I can do it for you." She rammed a gun against his temple hard enough to leave a bruise. "Tell me, Ianto Jones, are you ready to die?"

Jack ran to Gwen so fast he was almost a blur. Before Alonso could even make out his movements the zombie was on the ground and Jack was beating the shit out of it with his fist.

"Oh, God, Jack." Gwen was on her knees. "The Hub is on fire down below too. The Archives."

Jack put a bullet in the zombie's brain for good measure before noting her words with a grim expression.

"Rhys, Jack. Rhys and my baby. What-?"

"Shh. Calm down, Gwen." Jack held her hands in his. He had one hope left and only one.

"The sprinklers aren't working." Alonso was starting to cough too and the heat was becoming oppressive. Jack had already died by fire once before, he didn't fancy it again.

Then he saw the thing that made his immortal heart almost stop beating. The zombies had pried the cog door open and there written in flames were those long cherished words: Bad Wolf. Most people would've seen those words and shuddered; it was an omen of apocalypse, but for Jack it just meant Rose Tyler.

He got up off the floor and ran to the cog door. He finished opening it up and blasted the zombies with the sonic gun. He wasn't going to let this scourge of the earth spread Andy's destruction throughout this world. Not a chance.

He ran back to Alonso and Gwen. "We can't get out and we can't go down so the only way is up."

"Up?" Gwen and Alonso both said at the same time.

"Yup." They heard Myfanwy screech up in her chamber. "Come on." Jack pulled his team members to their feet and up the stairs towards the pterodactyl.

"Are you insane? We can't ride an ancient dinosaur out of the Hub!" Alonso burst out.

"Got any chocolate on you, Gwen? Preferably dark."

Gwen reached into her back and pulled out a dark chocolate bar. "Trust me to have sweets on me," she said weakly, the air too thick with smoke now to speak much.

They reached Myfanwy's cave and Jack cautiously approached her, holding out the chocolate. The ancient creature snapped it out of his hands and gulped it down, then lowered its head to be petted. Jack was grateful Ianto had made him come up here on numerous occasions to interact with her.

"How are we going to ride her out of here, Jack?" Alonso asked, breathing easier in the clear air of the cavern.

Jack surveyed the walls and found thick ropes dangling there. He quickly tied a rope around her neck, up by her shoulder blades where her massive wings protruded. "Hurry, put your legs under the rope."

Gwen and Alonso obeyed, careful not to spook the giant creature. She didn't seem to mind and Gwen couldn't help but wonder if Myfanwy could sense Ianto was in danger and that's why she was being so compliant. Jack got on last, making sure everyone held on to one another. He used his wrist strap to open the barred door all the way and Myfanwy, without any prompting, jumped out and spread her wings. Jack quickly opened the sky roof of the Hub and there were out in the light of dawn suddenly with a cold breeze immediately chilling them to the bone.

Gwen up in front, turned to Jack who was behind Alonso. "What now?"

"We wait for her to land. And then we found Yan!" he shouted to be heard over the rush of air and the sound of her wings.

"What if someone sees!" Alonso shouted.

Jack shrugged. "Not important right now."

Right now all he cared about was finding his lover.

"Think about it," Andy cooed, "Why would Jack love you? You're so ordinary." Andy had been feeding him similar lines for the past twenty minutes. Normally Ianto would have just shot her, but somehow her words were making it easier to shoot himself.

He could die with the pain of knowing Jack never really loved him. Jack had only used him. It was easier then for him to end his life. He would really be doing Jack a favor. On a subconscious level he knew she was controlling part of his mind. He didn't understand it, but his hands had moved of their own accord and now two guns were pointed at his head. One in his own hand and one in hers.

A screech from up above made them both look up.

"What the fuck is that?"

Ianto's eyes went wide when he realized what it was. Myfanwy. What had happened to Jack and the others?

"Jack. Where is he?" he asked, suddenly lowering his gun.

"Burning ,"was the bitter response.

"You bitch," Ianto suddenly kicked in her in the shin and she dropped the gun. He pressed the gun against her forehead and fired-once, twice, three times. Earlier, Ianto didn't know it, her skin had just absorbed the bullet, but this time it went directly into her brain. Her body didn't have time to heal before she took her last gasping breath.

Ianto took a step back and put the gun back at his temple. Out of the sky something fell at his feet.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10. Reunited**

**I don't own Doctor Who either. Part of this chapter is based on the Series One finale of Doctor Who and a episode in Season Three. This is the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who has kept reading this story! I have greatly appreciated the feedback from everyone who has taken the time to say a kind word about this story. Warning: Fluffy ending.**

_Rose Tyler saw the future. She saw the rise and fall of many empires, both human and alien. She saw everything that was, everything that is, and everything that could be. She saw stars fade and stars being born. She watched a million suns rise and set. She saw Jack. She saw Ianto._

_She felt Jack die and with all her power she brought him back, a irrevocable decision with unimagined consequences. She didn't see what she had created, the anomaly that was Jack Harkness, but she saw the young Welshman he'd meet one day. She saw their courtship, saw their love, and she'd watched as Ianto died._

_And in a split second decision Rose Tyler walked into the dark and took Ianto's hand and led him back into the light. _

"_Who are you?" Ianto asked._

_The blonde woman before him smiled. Her entire body seemed to be glowing from within, little tendrils of light bleeding through. "I'm a friend," she said. "Come on."_

_He didn't know how they suddenly ended up at the Hub, but they had. In front of them was a body bag. The woman unzipped the bag._

"_Is that-?"_

"_Yes. It's you. This is your body." She put her face close to the corpse's mouth and breathed. Some of the light that shimmered inside and out of her entered the body. "So it won't be so cold," she said. "Are you ready?"_

_Ianto wasn't sure what he was supposed to ready for. "I guess so."_

_She looked at him sadly. "Take care of him, will you? He's a good man."_

"_Of course," he said, a little smile on his face. He went up to the body and laid back down._

_Rose zipped the body bag back up and then went back to her Doctor._

...

"Jack?"

Jack groaned and sat up. The fall from the pterodactyl hadn't killed him which was most likely impossible considering the height, but then again Jack was an impossible man. He got to his feet; and, Ianto reached out a hand to steady him.

"I hope I never grow old," he said, feeling bruises all over his body beginning to form.

Ianto couldn't keep his lips from curling into a small smile. "I doubt that, sir. You have the maturity level of a five year old. You'd be a ridiculous old man."

Jack pouted at him.

"I thought…" Ianto's eyes misted over. "Are Gwen and Alonso okay?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah… we used Myfawny to escape the Hub. It's in ruins, by the way."

"Listen, Jack, I-" He didn't know what to say.

"You left."

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"Why'd you leave?" Jack put his hands in his pockets.

"I thought I was going to be turned into a zombie and rather than have you watch that I decided this…" he waved the gun in his hand, "was my only option."

"I don't think you're going to turn into a zombie and if you did…I'd…" Jack really wanted to say he'd shoot him, but he knew in his heart he couldn't have done that. "I lost you once. I don't think I could bear it again. I love you, Ianto, more than you can ever know."

Ianto dropped the gun and embraced the other man, holding on tightly. They stayed like that for a few minutes until Ianto spoke again. "I've been dreaming," he said, his voice a little shaky from crying.

"Of what?"

"Of a very bright light and this woman…"

Jack let go of Ianto, keeping his hands on his shoulders and searched his face. "What did she look like?"

"Well, she saw covered in light. It was radiating from her body, like she was part of a supernova. She had light hair and brown eyes. She said she'd come to bring me back. I was in the dark and she brought me back into the light." Ianto realized he was rambling, but he didn't care.

"Rose. Her name was Rose, Ianto. She's the reason I'm here and she's the reason you're here."

"What does it mean?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. You may be like me now, unable to die, a lonely wanderer. But let's never find out, okay? Let's just live, you and I together, for as long as we have."

"Okay, sir," Ianto said with a smile.

"What have I said about the word 'sir?'"

"I don't recall, sir." This time Ianto was outright smirking, the cheeky bastard.

"As your Captain I command you to stop calling me sir."

"Oh, really, sir, and what do you plan to do about it?"

They was a twinkle in Jack's eye as he leered at Ianto. "Oh, you don't want to know what sort of punishment I have in store for disobedience."

Their foreplay was interrupted by shouting from above. It was Alonso. Apparently Gwen and Alonso were tired of flying on the ancient dinosaur and wanted to get down now. Ianto pulled a piece of dark chocolate and held it up. Myfanwy circled, once, twice, and then landed in water, gliding gracefully towards the pier (and the treat).

"What about him?" Ianto gestured towards Alonso.

Jack shrugged. "He'll move on in time. But I'll make it clear you're the person I'm in love with." Jack pulled Ianto towards him and kissed him.

**Epilogue. **

_New New York Hospital, New Earth. The year 5,000,000,053._

The Doctor felt tears pricking at his eyes as he watched the Face of Boe slowly die. He'd nobly sacrificed his life for the people of New New York. As he breathed his last, the Doctor noticed something lying on the floor next to the Face of Boe. He picked it up. It was a stopwatch.

**THE END**

**Bit of a cheesy ending I know, but I couldn't help myself. For those of you who do not keep up with Doctor Who, the Face of Boe is presumed to be Jack billions of years in the future. Review? Please? It would absolutely make my day! :D**


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